Conferencing environments, such as boardrooms, video conferencing settings, and the like, can involve the use of microphones for capturing sound from audio sources. The audio sources may include human speakers, for example. The captured sound may be disseminated to an audience through speakers in the environment, a telecast, and/or a webcast.
In some environments, the microphones may be placed on a table or lectern near the audio source in order to capture the sound. However, such microphones may be obtrusive or undesirable, due to their size and/or the aesthetics of the environment in which the microphones are being used. In addition, microphones placed on a table can detect undesirable noise, such as pen tapping or paper shuffling. Microphones placed on a table may also be covered or obstructed, such as by paper, cloth, or napkins, so that the sound is not properly or optimally captured.
In other environments, the microphones may include shotgun microphones that are primarily sensitive to sounds in one direction. The shotgun microphones can be located farther away from an audio source and be directed to detect the sound from a particular audio source by pointing the microphone at the area occupied by the audio source. However, it can be difficult and tedious to determine the direction to point a shotgun microphone to optimally detect the sound coming from its audio source. Trial and error may be needed to adjust the position of the shotgun microphone for optimal detection of sound from an audio source. As such, the sound from the audio source may not be ideally detected unless and until the position of the microphone is properly adjusted. And even then, audio detection may be less than optimal if the audio source moves in and out of a pickup range of the microphone (e.g., if the human speaker shifts in his/her seat while speaking).
In some environments, microphones may be mounted to a ceiling or wall of the conference room to free up table space and provide human speakers with the freedom to move around the room, thereby resolving at least some of the above concerns with tabletop and shotgun microphones. Most existing ceiling-mount microphones are configured to be secured directly to the ceiling or hanging from drop-down cables that are mounted to the ceiling. As a result, these products require complex installation and tend to become a permanent fixture. Further, while ceiling microphones may not pick up tabletop noises given their distance from the table, such microphones have their own audio pickup challenges due to a closer proximity to loudspeakers and HVAC systems, a further distance from audio sources, and an increased sensitivity to air motion or white noise.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity for systems that address these concerns. More particularly, there is an opportunity for systems including an array microphone that is unobtrusive, easy to install into an existing environment, and can enable the adjustment of the microphone array to optimally detect sounds from an audio source, e.g., a human speaker, and reject unwanted noise and reflections.